How Harry Maguire rescued 10-man Manchester United in a six-goal Europa League thriller against Porto (2025)

• How bad was the defence?
• Did the first half sum up Ten Hag at United?
• Did United’s throwback midfield work?
• What happened to United’s trusted lieutenants?

Laurie Whitwell and Carl Anka were on hand to deliver The Briefing — you can read it at the link below.

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Fernandes found himself on the wrong side of the law again against Porto. The United captain picked up a second booking in the 81st minute after his high boot reaching for a cross was judged to be dangerous play. Did Fernandes’ boot connect with Nehuen Perez’ face? Perhaps not. But it was a rash piece of play from a player who is making them with uncomfortable frequency this season.

What is most concerning for United, is the decline, or absence of Ten Hag’s most trusted lieutenants from 2022-23.

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A midfield trio of Casemiro, Christian Eriksen and Bruno Fernandes was the cornerstone of the best run of results in Erik ten Hag’s Manchester United tenure, winning six Premier League games in succession which culminated in beating Manchester City 2-1 in January 2023.

But that combination was rarely seen last season as Ten Hag tried to progress his team, the final occasion coming in the 4-3 defeat away to Bayern Munich in September. They did start three games at the end of the campaign, but Casemiro was at centre-back, the last time the 4-0 loss to Crystal Palace.

It was a result that looked to have spelt the end for Casemiro, with Eriksen also appearing on the way out. But both stayed in the summer and here they were anchoring the midfield in a match of major significance for Ten Hag.

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Thankfully — or even fortuitously — a bit of luck came from Porto’s goalkeeper Diogo Costa, who let saveable efforts from Marcus Rashford and Rasmus Hojlund wriggle past him in the game’s opening 20 minutes. Ten Hag’s side looked to have clicked. Tails were up. Passing angles were sharper. Dark clouds abated.

Then came the other side of Ten Hag’s United. The Mr Hyde that has routinely manifested in European competition since April 2023. A looping cross forced Andre Onana into action in the 27th minute, making a good save on an unintentional header from Noussair Mazraoui. Unfortunately, the goalkeeper and Lisandro Martinez couldn’t get to the second ball in time, allowing Pepe (no, not that one) to sneak in and peg one back.

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Erik ten Hag’s future is under the microscope game by game, but he was saved from a hugely damaging defeat by Harry Maguire in stoppage time. Sir Jim Ratcliffe is planning to attend United’s next match at Villa Park, and he can at least expect plenty of entertainment.

It was a dreadful night defensively for United though, and the issue for Ten Hag is that this was his first-choice centre-back pairing, featuring two players he signed. Lisandro Martinez and Matthijs de Ligt each had horror shows, as even Ten Hag acknowledged by taking off both with 12 minutes left.

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One more match before the international break for both teams.

For United, it is another huge one in the Premier Leaguer as they travel to Villa Park to face Aston Villa on Sunday in a game that we will be covering live on The Athletic.

And Porto have a big one too as they face Braga at home a few hours later.

Their next Europa League fixtures look like this:

Thursday, October 24

• Fenerbahce vs Manchester United
• Porto vs Hoffenheim

A quick dip into our Discuss tab has brought us full-time reaction from a Manchester United fan, a Porto supporter and a neutral observer. No prizes for guessing which one is which…

💬 Sam M: “On behalf of most other fans, thank you Maguire for potentially prolonging this for a few weeks more. Hero.”

💬 Hugo P: “I’ll write a comment from a FC Porto’s fan perspective — how did we manage not to win this match? I’ll tell you why: we have sitting on the bench a ‘coach’ (actually he looks like a farmer) that manages to be worse than Ten Hag.”

💬 Paul C: “I’ve tried to be dispassionate about this. Take the emotion out of things. After the FA Cup final, I still thought he should go. And even after Spurs, I thought the first few games of this season had given him a bit of credit. I thought we were making progress and last season’s long injury list might have been a reasonable excuse. Maybe there could be a bit more method, and a bit less madness.

“But Erik’s post-match interview just now has done me in. Why persist with Rashford, despite some awful performances, only to sub him off at half-time when he’s finally flying? That’s not good squad management. That shows a complete lack of man management.

“And Harry looked like he was being held hostage.”

Harry Maguire was excellent value in his full-time chat with TNT Sports, saving his final answer for the subject of Erik ten Hag’s ongoing position as Manchester United boss:

💬 “I’ve played for this club now for six years, so I know how it works. And when you go through a bad spell here, players come under pressure but also the manager does.

“He’s experienced enough. He’s been in the game long enough. He’s been at this club long enough that I’m sure he’s learned how to deal with it.

“It’s part and parcel of playing for this club or managing this club. And part of the privilege that you have.”

Not a pretty sight for Manchester United fans.

Just two points from their opening two Europa League matches leaves them 21st in the table.

The top eight qualify automatically for the knockouts while the teams in ninth to 24th go into the play-offs for the other eight places in the next round.

United need results and fast if they are to make it into the top eight.

More here from Harry Maguire, who tells TNT Sports that those Manchester United players on the pitch need to deal with setbacks better — otherwise they may find it’s Maguire on the pitch from the start with that responsibility.

For clarity, that last bit is my context! But here’s what he said:

💬 “I think it’s more of a mental issue. Something that we need to overcome. It probably starts with belief. When we go 2-0 up and then we concede, you see the belief go a little bit between the boys that we can go on and win the game here.

“Leadership is an easy word to throw out. The boys on the pitch have got to realise it’s happened far too many times. They’ve got to realise we need to reset, refocus and make sure we go back to the game plan which got us the lead in the first place.

“If we want to be successful this season, we can’t be conceding two goals in as many minutes as we have done this season.”

The Manchester United dressing room was closed off for longer than usual after all that. Eventually their saviour tonight, Harry Maguire, emerged for a chat with TNT Sports:

💬 “Every game you analyse and you speak amongst yourselves. The manager spoke. A few members of the staff spoke, and the players spoke as well, so it’s pretty normal.

“I’ve been in many dressing rooms after the game where everyone had a chat and speaks about what we can do better.”

“When you go 2-0 up away from home at a place like this, you’ve got to be a little bit more solid and a little bit more secure. There were far too many gaps. Too many crosses coming into the box, for sure.

“And they ultimately punished us for it.

“We played really well with the ball in the first half, just really poorly without it.”

Is this another storm brewing at United?

When Rashford was withdrawn at half-time, we all thought it must have been an injury, but Ten Hag said otherwise.

"We have to rotate," he told TNT Sports. "We didn't start Garnacho, he's had a good season. On Sunday, we have (another) game. We need players to be available and be fit and fresh."

Pushed further on that, he said: "We had to play Garnacho. It's a quick turnaround to Villa. They have a day longer. We had an away game so we want fresh players on the pitch on Sunday."

Ten Hag was, understandably, visibly unhappy when he spoke to TNT Sports after the match.

💬 "We started the game very good, we dominated and scored two good goals," he said. "But then we lost control. The start was good, the middle part was no good and we finished very good.

"It's a tough place to go and we've come back from 3-2. It's good for our spirit. The team is willing with strong character but the middle part — the defending — we have to improve."

There has been one constant with this Manchester United side under Erik ten Hag: they are impossible to read.

Just when it looks like the wheels are going to come off, they conjure up a spanner. Then when things start running a bit more smoothly, they hit a pothole and the cycle starts again.

This was erratic following their fabulous start and just like against Tottenham at Old Trafford at the weekend, conceding a goal looked like dissolving any reserves of belief in what they were trying to do.

But tonight, they also deserve real credit for battling through that — and another Bruno Fernandes red card — to finish with a point.

How far it will get them from here? Who knows. But it’s hard to see anything other than the same erratic cycle repeating, regardless.

Here’s how the rest of the Europa League action finished tonight across the continent.

That’s a bit of a shocker for Roma, while Twente had to settle for a second draw in the end after their opening point at Old Trafford:

• Athletic Bilbao 2-0 AZ — I. Williams 72, Sancet 86
• Besiktas 1-3 Eintracht Frankfurt — Masuaku 90+3; Marmoush pen 19, Ebimbe 22, Knauff 82
• Elfsborg 1-0 Roma — Baidoo pen 44
• PAOK 0-1 FCSB — Birligea 45+8 (Olaru sent off 56)
• Porto 3-3 Man Utd — Pepe 27, Omorodion 34, 50; Rashford 7, Hojlund 20, Maguire 90+1 (Fernandes sent off 81)
• Rangers 1-4 Lyon — Lawrence 14; Fofana 10, 55, Lacazette 19, 45+1
• Twente 1-1 Fenerbahce — Vlap 29; Tadic 71
• Union SG 0-0 Bodo/Glimt
• Viktoria Plzen 0-0 Ludogorets

There were also nine early kick-offs today, where Tottenham won in Hungary but Ajax and Galatasaray were both pegged back from winning positions.

You will find all of those results here.

That is now two red cards in his last two games for Bruno Fernandes.

He had never been shown one in his first 241 matches for Manchester United.

Yes, his suspension for the dismissal against Tottenham on Sunday has been rescinded, but it is hardly a case of the captain leading by example for United, at the moment.

Maguire's rescue act means United escape with a draw.

But that was a chaotic display that has left even more concerns. It was an awful night for Martinez and De Ligt — two of Ten Hag's choices.

And the high foot that led from Fernandes that led to his second yellow card was just irresponsible.

• How bad was the defence?
• Did the first half sum up Ten Hag at United?
• Did United’s throwback midfield work?
• What happened to United’s trusted lieutenants?

The Athletic's Laurie Whitwell and Carl Anka were on hand to deliver The Briefing from United's 3-3 draw with Porto — check it out below.

That was quite the wild ride in the end, hey? Here is how the full-time numbers looked…

FT: Porto 3-3 Manchester Utd

• Possession: 47% — 53%
• Shots: 14 — 29
• On target: 7 — 8
• XG: 2.31 — 1.38
• Big chances: 5 — 4
• Blocked shots: 3 — 11
• Touches in opposition box: 30 — 42
• Duels won: 43 — 50
• Dispossessed: 11 — 7

To manage 29 shots was some achievement for United, and they actually looked pretty good once they were down to 10 men and chasing the game. It almost feels like if it had stayed 11v11, Porto may well have seen it out.

While the defence has been as much use at times as a fireguard made of chocolate, there have been no problems at the other end of the pitch for United in Europe.

In their last four European away matches, they have scored 12 goals. But they won none of those games, despite leading 2-0 in three of them.